Freezing tray



335111 3% F. W. sAMPsQN EAQflE FREEZING TRAY F i-led Feb. '7, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W m m M Am Wm F J m 3% WFEW 2 Sheets-Sheet 2! Filed Feb. '7, 1946 WWW d w Ya WE, d

- ATTORNEY-S Patented Jan. 31, 1950 FREEZING TRAY Frederick W. Sampson, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a

corporation of Delaware Application February 7, 1946, Serial No. 646,099

Claims. l

This invention relates to mechanica ly-ejecting freezing trays for general use in household refrigerators.

An object of this invention is to provide such a device having improved mechanism for me- A feature of this invention is the slightly distortable ice-block-loosening member which, when forced to move endwise thru the ice in which it is embedded in order to loosen the ice blocks, will distort at successive portions along its length starting at the end thereof at which. the endwise force is applied. This will cause the ice blocks to be loosened from the grid progressively along the length thereof and so greatly reduce the force necessary to operate the mechanism.

One feature of this invention is the endwise movable ice-camming member comprising two elongated bars having lateral bends therein which serve to cam. the adjacent ice blocks laterally apart and also serve to provide the desired longitudinal stretchability to said member under the endwise force applied thereto.

Another feature of this invention is the provision of loosely mounted cross walls capable of being tilted thru a substantial angle in the direction of movement of the ice-camming member whereby the movement of the ice blocks under the influence of said ice-camming member is facilitated and the loosened ice blocks more readily removed from the grid.

Another feature is the use of lateral bends in the ice-camm ng member to return the loosely mounted tiltable cross wall to their proper freezing positions when the remaining grid parts are placed in their proper freezing positions at the start of a freezing operation.

Another feature of this invention is the simple and efficient structure of the hand lever and its pivotal connections to the movable ice-camming member and the stationary partition upon which said hand lever is mounted. By casting the cocentric journals for moving the ice-camming member integral with other portions of the hand lever the cost of making and assembling these parts is very materially reduced. In order to facilitate such casting of the two eccentric journals integral with the two legs respectively of the U-shaped hand lever, said hand lever is originally cast in a shape with the two eccentric journals extending in the same direction and at right angles to the general plane of the U-shaped lever. Thereafter said two eccentric journals are brought into their final directly opposed positions by twisting each of the two legs of said U- shaped lever thru degrees.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the ice tray of this invention, the parts being shown in freezing position.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the grid of Fig. I removed from the pan, the parts all being shown in freezing position.

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the ice-block-loosening operation with the hand lever moved just far enough to loosen the first two pairs of ice blocks, leaving the remaining ice blocks still bonded to the grid.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 3 but shows certain ice-embedded parts in full lines.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Figs. 6- to 9 are detail views of the hand lever. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the hand lever in final form.

Fig. '7 is a side elevation of Fig. 6 but omitting the rivet.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is an end view of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a view showing the hand lever as originally die cast.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

ill designates the container pan, which preferably is stamped in one-piece from sheet aluminum or aluminum alloy, and has outwardly inclined side walls I! and end Walls I2. The removable grid i5 comprises a main longitudinal wall it having a series of spaced notches I'll in its lower edge to loosely receive the continuous portions of the cross walls It. Cross walls I8 have central slots 29 thru which the continuous I portions of main wall it loosely extend. These central slots 2!! each terminates at its top in a somewhat wider hole Ill whose bottom edge .lies approximately at the top edge of main wall I 6 (see Fig. 5). The combined depths of the slot 20 .3 and its communicating hole i3 is sufficient to permit main wall l6 to be assembled endwise thru the cross walls 58 and then cross walls iii are located in their notches ll therein.

After cross walls it are so assembled upon main wall it, the two metal strips 3| which form the ice-bloclr loosening member 33 are inserted endwise thru all the holes It in cross walls l8 and thereafter serve to retain said cross walls loosely assembled upon the main wall 16. This ice-blockloosening member 33 is composed of two normally contacting metal strips 3| which are preferably of somewhat lighter guage metal than main wall I6 and somewhat flexible. The forward ends 33 of strips 3| are spread apart and lie on opposite sides of the upstanding projection 25 on main wall 56. These metal strips 3| are each provided with lateral bends, such as shown in the drawings, to provide opposed lateral bulges 35 therein which serve to force the ice blocks outwardly from main wall l upon the longitudinal movement of member 39 to the left (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2). When the operating tension is applied to the front end of the two strips 3| the most forward lateral bends therein will slightly straighten out under the applied tension, and so cause a slight stretching of the forward portions of said strips. This will cause a slight forward movement of the forward slopes of the first pair of bulges 35 which are embedded in the first pair of ice blocks, which will result in this first pair of ice blocks being camrned loose from the grid. Thereupon the tension in stripsjil can reach the second pair of bulges 35 which will similarly loosen the second pair of ice blocks. This action proceeds in progressive order throughout the full length of the grid from left to right as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2. Thus the pairs of ice blocks are loosened in successive order from left to right during the ice-block-loosening operation. As soon as the ice blocks are loose in the grid further movement of the bulges 35 to the left further cams them laterally outward causing them to ride upwardly on the inclined walls of pan |il.

Member Bil is pulled to the left (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2) by means of a hand lever 48 pivoted upon the upstanding projection 25 on main wall l6. Each leg 3| of the U-shaped hand lever 40 has integral therewith an eccentric journal 42 which has a bearing fit within a corresponding hole 53 in each of the front ends 33 respectively of the two metal strips 3|. One of these legs 5| is shown as having a further journal 45 which has a bearing fit within a corresponding hole 35 in main wall it, which serves as the pivot bearing for lever 63.

In order to assemble lever 46 to its connected parts, the two legs thereof may be readily sprung apart sufficiently to slip the two eccentric journals 42 into their bearing holes 43 in the front ends 33 of the two strips 3!, and to slip the pivot-journal 45 into its bearing hole 46 in main wall it. Then a rivet '50 is passed thru the central hole 5| thru both legs 3| of the lever and riveted over to rigidly fix the parts of lever 59 in the position best shown in Fig. 6. During such riveting, pivot journal 45 serves as a spacer to provide proper lateral clearance between the moving parts and so permits the tight riveting of rivet 5G to hold the two legs fil rigidly fixed together to provide suitable rigidity and strength. It will now be clear than when lever 40 is swung counterclockwise thru 180 degrees from its freezing position, shown in Fig. 2, the two eccentric loosening member 3E3 to the left a longitudinal travel equal to twice the eccentric offset of the eccentric journals 42. In Fig. 8 this travel is shown as equal to the diameter of the main journal 35, but this maximum travel may be made greater or less, as desired, by increasing or decreasing the eccentric offset of journals 42 relative to the pivot journal 45.

The operation of the device may be as follows:

The removable grid I5 is placed loosely in pan W, as shown in Fig. 1. Pan IE3 is filled with water to its normal water level which is preferably some distance above the top edge of the ice-blockloosening member 30, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 5. This assembly is then placed in a freezin compartment and the water is frozen solid and bonded to the contacting metal surfaces. When it is desired to remove some or all of the frozen ice blocks, the tray is removed from its freezing chamber and the hand lever fill immediately operated to loosen the ice blocks from both pan and grid, without the necessity of applying any heat to aid in such loosening.

The initial movement of lever 40 about its pivot 45 first slightly raises and applies tension to both of the connected end portions 33 of the two metal strips 3|. The first pair of ice blocks may be loosened by the very first movement of the two end portions 33, but if not, the following action takes place. The tension applied to the end portions 33 acts first on the nearest two lateral bulges 35 and causes these bends in strips 3| to straighten out slightly and thereby force the first two ice blocks loose from both the grid and pan. In this connection it should be noted that the flexible bulges 3-5 are embedded well down in the ice and that ice fills the space between the opposed bulges 35, hence only a very slight straightening of the most forward bends in the metal strips 3| will be sufficient to loosen the contacting ice blocks. This first pair of ice blocks may be loosened without any movement of the first cross wall I8, but said first cross wall may stick to the first ice blocks and be moved thereby.

As soon as this first pair of iceJolocks have been loosened, the tension applied to the two metal,

strips 3| by lever 40 can reach the portions of said strips embedded in the second pair of ice blocks. This will cause the forward slopes on the second pair of bulges 35 to straighten out slightly and move forward sufficiently to wedge this second pair of ice blocks laterally apart and loosen them from both the pan and the grid. Only after this second pair of ice blocks are loose can the tension in strips 3| reach the third pair of ice blocks, which will then be loosened in a similar manner. Similarly all the remaining pairs of ice blocks are loosened successively from the front end to the rear end of the grid.

The forward slopes of each pair of bulges 35 together act as a sort of wedge to force the opposed ice blocks laterally apart and to simultaneously force them toward the front end of the pan l0. Hence the first pair of ice blocks will also be forced against the inclined end wall l2 of pan H), causing said ice blocks to ride upwardly on said journals l2 will pull the front end of the ice-blockinclined wall I2. The other pairs of ice blocks also tend to move forward as well as laterally apart from each other but since their bottom edges are permitted only a very slight forward movement, due to the anchoring of the cross walls all the cross walls I8 are free to tilt forward'due' to the shape of their mounting notches ll, all of the cross walls 18 will freely permit the ice blocks to tilt forward under the influence of the force of ice blocks have been loosened by the slight distortion at the first two bulges 35, while the third pair of bulges 35 and all the remaining bulges 35 are still solidly embedded in the ice. The first pair of ice blocks are illustrated as having been wedged apart a substantial distance, the second pair has been wedged apart a lesserdistance, while the third pair of ice blocks have not been moved at all. The first cross wall 18 has been tilted forward slightly by the forward tilting movement of the second pair of ice blocks. It is to be understood that this successive loosening of the pairs of ice blocks follows very closely one pair after the other, nevertheless the successive order is maintained. This very greatly reduces the force required to move the sliding member 39.

After all the ice blocks have been loosened from the grid, the grid may be simply lifted by hand and the loose ice blocks will drop therefrom by gravity down into pan ID. If only several ice blocks are wanted at the time, the hand lever til may be swung only far enough to loosen the desired several blocks from both pan and grid, and still leave the remaining ice blocks solidly frozen in the grid for later use.

When starting a freez ng operation, the grid is simply set in pan if! and the hand lever til thrown over to the position shown in Fig. 2. This will automatically properly position and retain all the cross walls iii in freezing position due to the fact that the rear slopes of the bulges 35 will engage and positively move the cross walls to their rearwardly inclined positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2. As shown in Fig. l, a pair of opposed bulges 3-5 are normally somewhat wider than the holes iii in cross walls [8 thru which strips 3! are passed during assembling of the grid. However this will not prevent the two strips 3i from being passed thru holes is when the bulges 35 are not positioned directly opposite each other on the two strips iii. Also even if the bulges 35 are directly opposed on the two strips 3 i, they can be squeezed together by springing the metal thereof suiliciently to pass thru said holes l9. Preferably the strips 3i are fixed together at 32 by spot welding after assembling.

Preferably the hand lever 46 is originally die cast in the shape shown in Fig. 10, which shows the two legs il thereof turned upwardly at an angle of 90 degrees from the final shape shown in Fig. 6. By casting lever it in this form the eccentric journals t2, the pivot journal 45, and the hole 5| therethru all extend in the same direction and hence may be readily die cast to ac curate dimensions which will require no :rnachin mg. formed by twisting same 90 degrees to bring their journal ends into directly opposed position with the two journals 42 in alignment. The final exact alignment of said journals 42 is permanently retained by inserting rivet 50 thru the holes 51 After casting, the two legs 4i are each deduring'assembling of the grip parts, as described:

above.

If so desired, all metal parts of th grid and.

pan which contact the ice have their ice-contactin surfaces rendered water repellent by any presently known manner, These metal parts may be suitably made of anodized aluminum and finally treated with a hard wax or other waterrepellent coating which will strongly adhere thereto. 1

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the cross walls is may be loosely mounted upon main wall it in any other suitabl manner than that shown, for instance, cross walls [8 may extend approximately vertically or be inclined toward the opposite direction from that shown in the drawings.

While the embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all comin within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows: i

l. A partitioning grid for a freezing tray for dividing the ice contents into ice blocks of suitable size for table use, said grid having a longitudinally stretchable block-loosening member arranged so as to be embedded in the ice contents of said tray, said member having a series of laterally extending yieldable bulges in the material thereof spaced along its length each of which provides for a slight elongation of said member by a partial straightening out of said lateral bulges when substantial endwise force is applied thereto, and means for pulling said member endwise when solidly embedded in the ice so as to stretch said lateral bulges in successive order along the length of said member and there by loosen the ice blocks in successive order along the length of said grid.

2. A partitioning grid for a freezing tray for dividing the ice contents into ice blocks of suitable size for table use, said grid comprising: a main partition, a series of cross walls spaced along the length of said main partition, a longitudinally stretchable block-loosening strip arranged to be embedded in the ice contents adjacent said main partition and longitudinally movable relative thereto, said strip having a series of laterally extending deformations spaced along its length which cam the contacting ice blocks laterally outwardly from said main partition upon the longitudinal movement of said strip, and means for applying tension to said strip so as to concomitantly stretch and move successive portions of said strip to progressively loosen the ice blocks from said grid.

3. A partitioning grid for a freezing tray for dividing the ice contents into ice blocks of suitable size for table use, said grid having a longitudinally stretchable block-loosening member located between two rows of ice blocks and arranged to be embedded in the ice contents of said tray, said member comprising two adjacent longitudinally extending strips each having a series of yieldable laterally projecting bands therein which serve to cam the adjacent ice blocks laterally upon the longitudinal movement of said member, and force-multiplying means for moving said member longitudinally to loosen the ice blocks from the grid.

e. A partitioning grid for a freezing tra for dividing the ice contents into ice blocks of suitable size for table use, said grid comprising: a main partition, a series of cross walls loosely mounted thereupon so as to be capable of some movement in a longitudinal direction thereof, a longitudinally stretchable block-loosening member arranged to be embedded in the ice contents adjacent said main partition, said member comprising tWo adjacent longitudinal strips each having a series of longitudinally yielding laterally projecting bends therein spaced along the length of said strips and arranged to force the contacting ice blocks laterally upon the longitudinal movement of said member, and force-multiplying means for moving said member longitudinally to loosen the ice blocks from the grid.

5. A partitioning grid for a freezing tray, said grid comprising a longitudinally movable member for loosening the ice contents from said grid, a hand lever having a pivot bearing upon a grid wall for moving said member longitudinally, said lever having two opposed legs extending from mutually opposite sides of said pivot bearing, each of said legs having an integral journal thereon eccentric to said pivot bearing and lying closely adjacent opposite sides of said pivot bear- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,145,719 Geyer Jan. 21, 1939 2,286,080 Geyer Jan. 9, 1942 2,306,307 Geyer Dec. 22, 1942 2,360,249 Mallard l- Octv 10, 1944 2,360,251 Mallard Oct 10, 1944 2,415,119 Reeves Feb. 18. 1947 

